Monday, July 18, 2016

Paleo-Orthodoxy: Was Jesus a Vegetarian Animal Rights Activist?

Was
Jesus a vegetarian activist? Did he come to bring salvation to
animals? Does the "Gospel
of the Holy Twelve"
contain the truth about the lost years of Jesus?

The
Gospel of the Holy Twelve was published in 1901, by Rev.
Gideon Jasper Ouseley.
He
was born in Lisbon on the 15th October, 1835, the younger son of Sir
Ralph Ouseley, brought over to Ireland on the death of his father, on
14th May, 1842, by relatives, and educated in Dublin University, in
which he graduated in 1858. On the 9th of December, 1906 he passed
away at the age of 72.

He
was, for a time, a missionary in Ireland for the Methodist Church,
and ordained as a clergyman by the Bishop of Down and Connor in 1861.
He left the denomination, and in 1870, voluntarily renounced meat
eating, alcohol and tobacco use as inconsistent with the humanity and
the true religion of Christ. He was subsequently received as a priest
of the Catholic Apostolic Church, an Old Catholic sect. He then
founded the Order
of At-one-ment and
United
Templars Society,
having for its motto:

“One
God, one Religion, various names, various forms.”

Such a statement is clearly a Theosophical one, and one which appeals to modern Cultural Marxists who want to maintain at least an outward form of religiosity. Its
object was to bring about a reconciliation of opposing ideas, things,
persons, and systems; creating a universal religion. Because of these
occult leanings, the church first suspended him. When this did not
serve to bring him to his senses, he was excommunicated.

Ouseley
then decided to publish his work, “The Gospel of the Holy
Twelve,” claiming that it had been hidden away by members of
the Essene community to keep it from being corrupted by orthodox
Christians. It was claimed to be a translation of an original Aramaic
document, discovered by Ouseley himself.

The
text itself is clearly a mixture of the four canonical Gospels found
in the New Testament and Theosophical occultism. However, Dowling changes many of Christ's teachings
to fit his own extreme vegetarian worldview. The stories in the Gospel
of the Holy Twelve deviate from the Gospel accounts in many ways.
For example:

The
magi are in such a hurry to find Jesus that they neglect to attend
to their thirsty camels. The star of Bethlehem disappears from their
sight until they give their camels rest and water.

Jesus
rebukes a man who beats his horse, and later rebukes a crowd of men
who torment a cat. When one of the men gets angry with him, Jesus
causes his arm to wither. The next day the man returns admitting his
sin, and is healed.

Jesus
rebukes a man for beating his camel, asking, "Wherefore
beatest thou thy brother?"
Then it says, "the
camel knew Jesus, having felt the love of God in him."

Jesus
states that he has come to end the temple sacrifices, and after his
resurrection, goes to the temple and puts an end to the sacrifices
with a replay of the temple cleansing.

There
is no Passover lamb at the Last Supper; Judas Iscariot asks why
there isn't any meat to eat.

Is
the Gospel
of the Holy Twelve
legitimate?

The
fact is, it is rejected by academic Biblical
scholarsas
an invention of Ouseley's vivid imagination,and
has been dismissed by modern theologians and even historians and
advocates of the animal
rightsmovement.

In response to a campaign byPeople
for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA),which
claimed "Jesuswas
a Vegetarian", the Reverend
Professor Andrew
Linzey1referred
to The
Gospel of the Holy Twelve and
similar publications, stating, "try
as I may, I can find no evidence for their antiquity and I deeply
fear that they are works of fiction."2

Richard
Alan Young,
a Professor of New Testament Studies has similarly stated, "It
appears that Ouseley created The
Gospel of the Holy Twelve in
support of animal
welfareand
vegetarianism."3

Yet
again we find that fringe history, fake gospels and occult philosophy provide nothing but lies.